Beyond the Burg Blurbs

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March 23, 2010

2:37 AM

A rugby match at Diablo Valley College in California ended in a shooting March 20. Witnesses reported that a spectator was shot by an unknown assailant around 8 p.m. after tension arose between two spectators at the game’s close. After one spectator hit another in the jaw, the injured spectator shot his attacker and ran away. The shooting victim was hospitalized, while the suspect was treated for a broken jaw and arrested by authorities.

Brittany J. Smith, a former Harvard University student, was indicted March 16 as an accessory after the fact to murder for the fatal 2009 shooting of Justin Cosby inside a Harvard dormitory. Cosby was shot during a drug deal with three New York men, one of whom was Smith’s long-term boyfriend. She was indicted for illegal possession of a firearm and for willfully misleading police officials and a grand jury.

Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business released a consumer study March 19 proving that Toyota owners still believe in the brand even though millions of Toyota vehicles have been recently recalled for brake pedal malfunctions. Studies showed that Toyota’s reputation has been shielded by its historic track record, creating customer loyalty and a “brand insulation effect.”

Researchers at the University of Utah and other institutions successfully sequenced the entire genome of a four-person family for the first time, including the parents, a daughter and a son. The study demonstrated that parents pass down fewer genetic mutations than previously thought. It is now believed that each parent passes 30 genetic mutations to his or her children, for a total of 60, compared to the previous 75 mutations, for a combined 150.